Assurant launches ASU underwritten at point of sale
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Assurant Intermediary is launching the first accident sickness and unemployment products to be underwritten at the point of sale.
Policies underwritten at the point of sale judges the premium and the cover based on each policyholder’s own individual risk profile.
Assurant says this will result in many policyholders having reduced premiums.
This move brings ASU in line with the way in which all other personal lines insurance products are underwritten.
The specialist insurer is launching two new products in the Home Protector provides cover specifically for mortgage or rent payments.
While Income Protector is a short term income protection policy that allows customers to protect a percentage of their income.
Products will be sold on an advised basis through a broker or intermediary.
Nigel Payne, managing director of Assurant, says the products will remove the ambiguity that has plagued ASU cover.
He says: “We believe this innovation responds to some major criticisms that have been laid at the door of PPI products by the Competition Commission.
“The launch of these two products is very much the first stage in what will be a continual evolution of our point of sale proposition.”
Assurant says the new products should avoid the need for sudden price hikes in policies.
Home Protector covers a maximum monthly benefit of 120% of mortgage or rental payments or up to £3000, whichever is the lowest.
Income Protector covers up to £3000 of income.
ASU is available for 12 months, with the option to increase AS benefit to 24 months.
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Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 12 Jan 2011 11:19 am
Smoke and mirrors or what?? Underwritten at point of sale? Does this really mean a client will be asked if they know of any impending unemployment or redundancy that may affect them or have they any pre existing medical conditions? If so its no different to all other MPPI products out there...they are all technically underwritten at point of sale. Are Assurant claiming that they wont check if someone new about redundancy when they come to claim.... I very much doubt it!
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Kevin Paterson | 12 Jan 2011 2:45 pm
In response to the anonymous comment, I'm afraid this is the type of ill-informed understanding that has dogged this product in recent years and why it has increasingly been viewed as toxic. Of course we will ask the standard questions, however, that is where the similarity ends. Simply accepting or declining an applicant based on who they work for or the sector they work in is not underwriting, it is a blunt instrument and serves no benefit other than to mitigate the insurers risk. What we have done is create a policy that asks a range of questions that will then rate the client individually across a range of rating factors, there are literally thousands of permutations that will then produce a unique premium based on the risk that the client represents to the insurer, the bigger the risk the bigger the premium but it also follows that the lower risks get a cheaper premium instead of the 'one-size-fits-all' premium approach currently adopted by the industry. The product needs to change, fundamentally if confidence is to be restored in it and we believe this is a significant step in the right direction.
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